First time...

[WitchAndShaman]

I always wondered if it would be really cool, or a real pain to be a military brat. How was your experience, WandS?

Seahunter, it was both for me.

By age 14, [oops, corrected my age] all of my siblings had moved out so I felt somewhat alone inside my home. As my parents had insisted, I’d spent the prior few years focusing on my friendships and my school (and piano lessons which I hated because I have zero rhythm).

Then we moved to Japan and I lost the two things I cared about most.

I went into a deep depression and withdrew from my family. I did make some few friends but we were living in temporary housing for months. With many people in that hotel leaving the island, it was hard to want to create any deep personal attachments. My school grades went from A/B to D/F.

At some point I got mixed up with alcohol abuse and mixing that with some pills. It took me about three months to figure out I was in serious personal trouble and that I was making everything be about “me”. I didn’t want to be a burden to my parents so I did what worked before and threw myself into some new positive friendships and school.

Everything for me turned around and I was able to discover the beauty of the island. Okinawa is tiny - 60 miles long and between 4-12 miles across. I traveled all of it as frequently as possible. For just a few hundred Yen (like one dollar) I could get taxied away into the island’s biggest city or into the wild. I scoured temples, an abandoned zoo, under water caves, and more. I flourished and grew up.

I’d say that most military families with children can find great personal growth and cultural wealth in deployments to foreign countries. However, I think the kids have to be given the appropriate prep and care as the move can be just as stressful on them as the parents. The kids have no control of the situation; therefore I think for me, I decided to manifest the outside world to look as chaotic as the world inside my head.

 

[Paintman]

WandS, great account of your travels.
Now I'm concerned about what may have happened on my first flight had I been afraid like Debi described. I would have been much too young to ride a bus back from Miami to Chicago.
Oh well, peddle the Big Wheel.

 

[Lynne]

Awesome! You got hooked on such a fantabulous field to study Seahunter. I look forward to some spellbinding tales and facts. Bet that was a trip.

Not that your crew messed up Seahunter. But I can’t tell you all what a dozen mixed sex high school students can do in a foreign (Japan) county...in Spring. I’ll just let your imaginations take you wherever. Let me just insert “vending machines that dispense alcohol” and “other vending machines which spit out adult girly magazines.” There you go. I almost forgot communal bathing and rooms without door locks!

Your stories might be just as entertaining

 

[Debi]

WandS, great account of your travels.
Now I'm concerned about what may have happened on my first flight had I been afraid like Debi described. I would have been much too young to ride a bus back from Miami to Chicago.
Oh well, peddle the Big Wheel.

I did actually work up the nerve to fly again about 10 years ago. I had not seen my son in Florida for about 6 years so for Xmas, the hubs bought me a roundtrip ticket for a 10 day stay. It took some doing and a bit of meditation and centering, but I did get on that plane! And this time I didn't scream. I just looked so panicked that the lady next to me was kind enough to pat my hand and reassure me. lol I never said a word, but she recognized terror when she saw it. The return trip, 2 country boys told me stories about their parasailing mission behind a tractor they were going to try when they got home. Pretty sure that may have made it's way to Funniest Home Videos if they actually did it.

 

[Lynne]

Mine was to Miami for a work convention for my husband in 91. It was a big deal for me. A country girl! It was ok. I kept examining the bolts in the plane. I’m not a fan of flying but will go if I want to get somewhere. I have flown one other time to Disney land in Florida. It was a dance thing for my daughter.

 

[Vibe-Feeler]

I was about 3 and I went with my folks to Malawi. And for some weird reason this Japanese family wanted a picture with me :neutral:. But I can't remember much from that flight. The first flight I can actually remember was when I was about 5 and we flew down to Durban in KwaZulu-Natal. I had ear-ache the whole flight but I didn't bug passengers with my whining .

 

[Benway]

the letter Q is a real challenge, with that little squiggly thing and perfect circle

I'll see your Q and raise you a capital G! Now that has an incomplete perfect circle going into a straight line and a right angle. What were they thinking? Q was easy as it's an orange smoking a cigar, obviously. G often looked like a C with some scribble!

 

[Charleh]

I'll see your Q and raise you a capital G! Now that has an incomplete perfect circle going into a straight line and a right angle. What were they thinking? Q was easy as it's an orange smoking a cigar, obviously. G often looked like a C with some scribble!

G's just a curvy arrow

 

[WitchAndShaman]

WandS, great account of your travels.
Now I'm concerned about what may have happened on my first flight had I been afraid like Debi described. I would have been much too young to ride a bus back from Miami to Chicago.
Oh well, peddle the Big Wheel.

Paintman, that would have to be a really big Big Wheel. But what a cardio workout that could be.

 

[WitchAndShaman]

I'll see your Q and raise you a capital G! Now that has an incomplete perfect circle going into a straight line and a right angle. What were they thinking? Q was easy as it's an orange smoking a cigar, obviously. G often looked like a C with some scribble!

Wait Benway! You ever notice how a capital G looks like the mirror image of a capital J? Yes, really. The J just got tilted and it’s top bar slipped off and landed on it’s little hooky part.